All posts tagged Loyal Union Sampler

Plodding along with the Loyal Union Sampler from the book by Jennifer Chiaverini.

First up, an easy one called Cornerstone. This is the first block on the third row.

Next is Cotton Boll (funny name). Another quick one to make. I think it has lots of secondary pattern possibilities for a one block quilt with different colour placements. Must try it some time.

The last one was a bit more tricky but very enjoyable to make. I quite like two colour blacks. This is called Crosses and Losses. Again, loads of pattern possibilities for using lots of these in one quilt.

Here’s the virtual quilt so far. The other blocks are shown in previous posts.

We’re snowed in here. The main road near us is closed to traffic and there are several abandoned cars along the route. British weather, eh? Oh well, I’ll just have to sew 😉

This is actually my own adaptation of the original block design in the Loyal Union Sampler book by Jennifer Chiaverini which shows all 12 pieces meeting at the centre. I suspect the Moda fabric I’m using is just too thick to work with this block. I had several attempts which seemed to be getting progressively worse in appearance. All went well every time until the final seam and then there was nowhere for all the bulk to go. I tried spiralling the seams, opening them and also pressing to one side but that final seam just didn’t want to play and knocked everything gonky. I even trimmed the seams with no luck. If I’d been working with prints it would have probably been OK but these solids are so unforgiving. Hence, the final solution after discussion with Claire was to piece the centre in 4 instead of 12 and it’s worked really well.

I was initially approaching this project as a purist. I’m usually more than happy to change designs and patterns to my liking but I’d set out to follow this one to the letter and I found it so hard to “give in”. Anyway, after looking at several of the other blocks that are still left to do, I found a couple with appliqué and I definitely have no intention of doing appliqué blocks for this quilt. Once I’d made that decision it was easy to change Connecticut.

Finally, to complete the second row, is a block called Constance’s Pride. You can see the virtual quilt so far to the right of the screen.

Do you ever change designs? Maybe use patterns just as inspiration and then go off on a tangent? I suppose if we do change things it means our projects will be unique.

I’ve been away from the land of blogs for quite a while, except for my three weekly posts at Sewing Beside the Sea. I’m not going to make any excuses because I don’t have any, other than that my spare time was precious and I chose to craft rather than blog. That doesn’t mean I’ve been a crafting Ninja while I’ve been absent but I have made a few things during the last year which I’ll show you now and again if I don’t decide to disappear back into my crafting cave. Yes, it’s over a year since I posted here. My friend Claire has been going on and on at me encouraging me to write some posts so I promised to dip my toes back in again and see how it goes. Claire has been sending me lists of things I’ve made that I could show and write about here, some of which I’d forgotten and others that I hadn’t even bothered to take photos of before they were gifted. She’s even sent me some photos that I’d originally sent her via email in case I needed to use them here. Where would I be without her?

During the last couple of weeks I’ve put on a bit of a spurt with The Loyal Union Sampler from the book by Jennifer Chiaverini. The last time I worked on these dinky 6 inch blocks was in November 2016 so this project was well overdue some of my attention (notice a theme here?).

Anyway, here’s Christmas Star which has a white background in real life and not pale blue. Electric light does my photography no favours. I gave up counting how many pieces it has. Too many for a tiny block but I enjoyed making it.

This is Coffee Mill. I like how it rotates but that isn’t what caused the blurring!

I’ve updated the virtual quilt and I’m pretty determined to make some headway on this project now so watch this space. It would be nice to get the second row completed wouldn’t it?

It’s been a busy year for me again and the patchwork has taken a bit of a back seat. I did finish four projects namely the sausage dog, the green stars quilt, the tardis and the F2F quilt. I can’t take credit for all the blocks in the F2F quilt but I did assemble and quilt it myself. I spent lots of time this year making the tiny blocks for the Loyal Union Sampler and also lots of 12 inch blocks for the F2F Block Swap organised by Kate. So, there’s been loads of partial finishes but not many completed projects as far as patchwork goes. You can see lots more pictures of everything by clicking the “Finished 2016” tab at the top of the page. If you click on the photos on that page, you’ll be taken to the relevant posts.

I’ve been more active on cross stitch projects this year. You can see those on my other blog Sewing Beside the Sea.

Thank you to everyone who supported my blog last year, whether you’ve been reading anonymously in the background or actively liking, commenting and emailing. It’s nice to have you stop by.

Just one block to show today. This one is called Charlie Stokey’s Star and I really enjoyed making it. Here’s what the virtual quilt looks like so far.The blocks all finish at six inches square and details can be found in the Loyal Union Sampler book by Jennifer Chiaverini. I hope you’ve had time to craft today.

Not a lot of progress to share on the sampler this week. I made the nine square in a square blocks the other day and then just looked at the pieces on my mat and walked away several times. Sometimes I just know it isn’t going to be successful so I go off and do something else. Today, the bits went together like a dream. It was worth waiting until I could give it my best shot.

Anyway, this one is called Chambersburg from the Loyal Union Sampler book by Jennifer Chiaverini. It’s got forty five dinky pieces and finishes at six inches square. I’ll definitely make this block again in a larger format. There’s so much that could be done with colour placement to make secondary patterns.

Here’s where I’m at now.

It’s back to Y-seams for the next two blocks. I promise not to whinge!

Well, that was a bit of a marathon. Far too many Y-seams for my liking and they were too small to get under the machine foot so I ended up having to hand stitch them. This one is called Castle Wall and it’s the 15th block in the Loyal Union Sampler book by Jennifer Chiaverini.

I eventually managed the Y-seams on this block using the sewing machine. The photo was taken in poor light but waiting for the time when there is good daylight again could take months. So here it is. This one is called California. I’m pleased with how it turned out. It’s the first block in the second row of the quilt.

Block 13 is called Camp Curtin. Nice and easy peasy this one :-).

Finally, my favourite of the latest blocks, Campfire. I think I’ll make more of these in a larger size for another project.

It’s back to Y-seams for the next block and they definitely won’t go through the machine this time. Believe me, I’ve tried! Oh well, I had to learn how to hand stitch patchwork at some point.

This is what the quilt looks like so far. I can’t promise rapid progress with the next block.

If you’d like to make this quilt, you’ll find it in the Loyal Union Sampler book by Jennifer Chiaverini.

Can you believe it’s eight months today since I last worked on the Loyal Union Sampler from the book by Jennifer Chiaverini? In my last post about this quilt on 29th February, showing block 11, there were 56 teeny weeny pieces of fabric sewn together to make a six inch finished block. You can see it by clicking here. Today, I set myself a different kind of challenge. Three hours later…

I can hear you giggling! This might not look like much progress in three hours to you but it was a huge challenge for me. I now know why this project got put to one side for so long. The next few blocks all have Y-seams which have tested my patience almost to the limit in the past. I had to sew the white patch on several times and take it back off again but I’m now very happy with it. I know Y-seams are so much easier to do by hand and, I suspect this sampler is supposed to be sewn that way, but that’s part of the challenge isn’t it? I will not be beaten!! If it’s virtually impossible to do a three quarter inch long Y-seam on a machine, why not give it a go? Success is so much sweeter when the challenge is tougher 😉

If I can muster more patience tomorrow, I might be able to show block 12 at the left hand end of the second row. There’s still such a long way to go. What tries your patience the most?

I’m so pleased I’ve managed to get the top row of the Loyal Union Sampler finished this month. Block 11 is called Broken Window and you can find it in the book by Jennifer Chiaverini.

This was a great exercise in fitting 56 pieces of fabric into a six inch square. Now that the top row is done, I can see that this project is achievable for me … eventually 😉 Considering the first row has taken almost 13 months to complete, I could maybe have the blocks finished by 2028. Then there’s all the sashing, cornerstones, borders…not to mention the quilting. Fun, fun, fun!